The results of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) 2017 Regulatory Burden Survey reveal there is no shortage of opportunity to reduce regulatory burdens on physician practices. At a time when medical groups are transforming the way they do business to improve the coordination of patient care and enhance operational efficiency, nearly half report spending more than $40,000 per FTE physician, per year, to comply with federal regulations.

In the MGMA survey, medical practices identify the following regulatory issues as "very" or "extremely" burdensome: the Medicare Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (82 percent), lack of national electronic attachment standards (74 percent), audits and appeals (69 percent), and lack of EHR interoperability (68 percent). Within the MIPS program, medical groups cite clinical relevance (80 percent) as their top concern.

"The magnitude of regulatory demands on physicians forces medical group practices to needlessly focus precious time and resources on administrative tasks instead of patient care," said MGMA President and CEO Halee Fischer-Wright, MD, MMM, FAAP, CMPE. "MGMA calls for national effort to relieve physician practices from excessive government regulation and looks forward to working with both the Administration and Congress to find meaningful solutions."

The survey includes responses from 750 group practices, with the largest representation from independent medical practices with 6 to 20 physicians. For a summary and full survey results, visit mgma.org/regrelief.